The Punisher
by Shadowmjl
Summary: A remake of the movie. Shadow's family is murdered by Jet's goons and he goes on a mission for revenge. some Shadrouge, some Shadamy.
1. Chapter 1

Okay this is my attempt to make up for Metallic Reflections. All characters belong to Marvel and Sega and the fan characters belong to Shadrougeforever.

The Punisher

Chapter 1

Tampa Florida.

It is the middle of the night and a yellow sports car drives down a dock and stops in front of a large ship. A two tailed yellow fox stepped out of the drivers side with a suitcase in one hand while a blue hawk with dark blue tipped feathers stepped out of the passenger side. The hawk dropped his cigarette and turned to the fox, "So I'm gonna get a three-to-one return on my money?"

"Bobby, he's the real deal." the fox replied smugly. The two walked over towards the ship, "I met him in a hash bar in Amsterdam. He speaks Russian, German, Arabic." the fox explained. The pair stopped near the ship and looked up to see a figure standing on a crate as it was lowered onto the dock, "Mr Astrov's trust is not gained easily. Two years it took me." the figure said, "You see Miles, he doesn't like new faces. So tell me, why am I looking at a new face?"

"Otto Kreig, meet my friend Bobby. He's helping me with the financing. He's not a cop." the fox said. The figure stepped off the crate and walked over to the two, he was a black hedgehog with red streaks, he wore a beige suit and had a cigarette in his mouth. The hedgehog eyed Bobby suspiciously before turning and signalling a few other men on the ship to come over to him.

"Let's see the money." the hedgehog said, Miles, the fox, lifted the suitcase he was carrying and handed it to Bobby who held the case while Miles opened it to reveal the money inside. Otto put on a pair of glasses and took out an ultraviolet light and scanned the money.

The men from the ship now stand behind Otto, one of them said something to him in Russian, Otto replied and the man walked over and scanned the money a second time.

The man clicked his fingers and the other men opened several cases they're carrying, the cases contained machine guns, "You like it?" asked Otto

"Yeah, I like it." answered Miles as he eyed the guns

"We have deal?" asked the man standing next to Otto

"We have deal." said Miles, the fox raised his hand for a high five but the men stared at him, as Miles lowered his hand the man next to Otto shook hands with Bobby.

Suddenly a police helicopter flew over head and shone it's spot light onto the group of men, several police cars appeared and officers got out and aimed their guns at the men. A man in the helicopter began speaking over the loud speaker, "This is the FBI. Put your hands in the air."

"What is this?" asked Miles nervously

"You brought a cop Miles," replied Otto angrily, "And he brought his fucking friends!"

"Don't look at me." Miles said defensively

"This is not good, my father's gonna kill me." Bobby said.

A purple chameleon in a SWAT team uniform aimed his gun at the men and said, "You are under arrest for the importation and sale of contraband firearms."

Otto cursed in a foreign language and pulled out a handgun from his pocket, "Drop the gun!" the chameleon shouted, "Drop the gun!" Otto aimed the gun at the chameleon and was shot several times.

"Whoa, whoa. This is not my deal." said Bobby, he had a gun in his hand, "This is not my deal. I don't even know these guys." Bobby waved the gun towards the men from the ship and one took out his gun and fired. The police officers shot down the men and Miles fell to the ground and hid his face in his hands, when he looked around he saw all the men dead, "Holy shit." Miles then turned his head and saw the blue hawk lying on the ground, "Holy shit, Bobby." Miles shook Bobby but he was dead, a police officer pushed Miles onto his stomach and handcuffed him.

A medic knelt next to Otto's body, he felt for a pulse, the chameleon stood next to him, "I'm calling it. It's 1:37 am."

"Bag him and ship him." the chameleon said. Otto was put in a body bag and driven to the police station.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

An ambulance pulled into the police station and a man and a woman opened the doors and pulled out a body bag, they put it on a table and the man unzipped the bag and turned and opened another bag on the table. As the medic opened the bag to reveal the body of Bobby the person in the other bag, Otto, sat up, "God I hate this job." the hedgehog climbed out of the body bag and took off his suit, "Gimme a hand fellas?" he said, two men walked over and helped take off a shirt lined with blood packs. The purple chameleon walked over, "Hurry up Shadow, we gotta get you outta here." Shadow noticed Bobby, "What the hell happened? Who's the kid?"

"Well it's definitely not in the plan, but we beat the spread." the chameleon replied

"This isn't football." Shadow said

"Nah, it's a figure of speech." the chameleon said, Shadow sighed, "People weren't supposed to die out there. Get him ID'd, get him to the morgue. And gimme my pants will you I'm standing in a cold room in my underwear for god's sake."

Later Shadow and the chameleon, Espio, walked into a room, Shadow had his head down and when he looked up he saw the room was filled with people, there was a sign across the back wall, 'Happy retirement Shadow'

"Aw shit." said Shadow, everyone began clapping while Espio picked up a glass of wine and said, "To Shadow Hedgehog, the finest soldier, the finest undercover op, the finest man I've ever know. What am I gonna do without you?"

Shadow paused and answered, "Get a girlfriend." everyone laughed and later Shadow and Espio stood at the entrance to the station, "Have fun in Puerto Rico Shadow, and say hello to your family." Espio said

"Thanks." the two shook hands, then a medic walked over, "Agent Espio," the medic handed Espio a wallet, "He's Robert Hawk, Jet Hawk's son."

Shadow lightly punched Espio in the shoulder, "More paperwork for Tampa P.D."

Espio chuckled, "No, we can handle this."

At a large mansion a black car pulled up outside and a blue hawk that looked almost identical to Bobby and a red echidna stepped out and walked into the mansion. At the other end of the house was a balcony where two figures stood, the echidna stopped halfway through the house and the blue hawk continued out onto the balcony. He said something to the two, one was a man the other was a woman, the woman fainted and the man rushed over to her while the blue hawk walked back into the house and said to the echidna, "Bail him out, bring him to the club."

Later Miles walked out of the police station and down the sidewalk, as he walked a black car pulled up beside him and two men got out, "Don't hit me." Miles pleaded, the men grabbed him and threw him into the car.

The car pulled up outside a large club and Miles was dragged inside and up to the top floor where three men began to beat him while the red echidna sat watching. Miles was on the floor being kicked when the echidna spoke, "You sell home-grown pot by the ounce Miles, not by the barrel. You sell badly forged fake passports to Haitians. What inspired you become the Mr Universe of international arms dealers? Miles, you should apologize for the death of Mr Hawk's youngest child."

Miles lay on the floor, the men had stopped kicking him, "Okay I know how it looks, but Bobby, he buys pot from me, and when he found out what I was doing he insisted on coming in. He put up half the cash, he came of his own free will." one man kicked Miles hard in the back, the fox winced from the blow, "If you're gonna kill me, would you leave my face alone, for my mother?" the echidna grabbed Miles by the back of his head and held his face close to his own, "We just made your bail, if I wanted to kill you I would've left you in jail where we have friends and in some way that I can only describe as deeply pornographic you would've been killed, but you're a small piece of shit, and I don't want the karma of your death on my soul." the echidna flung Miles to the ground, "But on the other hand maybe I don't believe in karma so, guys." the echidna stood up and went to walk away as the three men advanced on Miles, "No, no, I'll tell you anything you wanna know." Miles said desperately, "Okay then this'll be quick." said the echidna, "I wanna know one thing only; who brokered the deal?"

"His name's Otto Kreig, and if it's any comfort to Mr Hawk, he's dead too." Miles answered

"Well it's not." said someone behind Miles, the fox turned to see the blue hawk standing next to a green hawk, "It's actually no comfort at all." said the green bird as he folded his arms, "But what might be comforting to me is to watch the slow death of the man who was supposed to be taking care of my son and making sure he did not get into trouble." the hawk, Jet, looked down at Miles in disgust, "Oh Miles. What would your father think of this? Your father, who gave his life for me, what would he say?"

"I didn't know it was gonna happen like this, please." Miles begged

"Well, ignorance is no excuse." Jet said as he held his hand out in front of one of the men and the man handed him his gun, "The man who's responsible for my son's death must die." Jet aimed the gun at Miles but quickly changed his aim and shot another man in the leg. The man fell to the ground, "I told you to never let him out of your sight." the hawk said, the man groaned in pain, "Mr Hawk, Bobby told me to stay. Tell him John." the man looked up at the blue hawk, he said nothing, Jet then fired again and shot the man in the shoulder, "Mr Hawk, it was Bobby's idea, he wanted to go alone. He thought he could impress you or something."

"Thank you for that explanation." said Jet, he then shot the man in the head and dropped the gun onto his corpse, "My son didn't need to impress me." said the green hawk as he walked away.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

In a suburban house a beautiful white bat was packing several boxes. She walked down a hallway, she stopped halfway and turned to see Shadow standing in the doorway with a bag in his hand. Shadow put the bag down and the two walked up to each other, "This was a hard one." the bat said

"This was the last one." Shadow replied. The two kissed and began walking down the hallway, Shadow sighed, "It's over."

"Tell that to your son. He doesn't believe me." the bat said

"Where is he?" asked Shadow

"You know."

Outside in the back garden Shadow walked over to a dog house with a baseball in his hand, "Y'know what I miss most about Buck? He could catch a ball. No matter how hard you threw it, he was right there." said Shadow, he began throwing the ball into the air, "Why are we always moving?" asked the boy inside the doghouse

"This is the last time." answered Shadow

"You said that last time." said the boy

"I did?" asked Shadow, the boy crawled out of the dog house and revealed himself to be a small, black hedgehog with bat wings and white streaks in his quills, "Yeah. You said we were leaving California, and we were gonna move to Virginia, and you'd work in Washington, and we'd never move again."

Shadow sighed, "Guess I've said a lot of things, huh?"

"So why London?" asked the boy

"London's a safe place where we can all be together. No more moving around, I promise. Someday when you're older Spike, I'll tell you why we had to move so much."

In a morgue Bobby Hawk lay on a table, Espio stood next to the table with Jet Hawk on the opposite side. Jet placed his hand on Bobby's head and stroked it, "You're such a special boy."

"Mr Hawk, are you identifying this body as your son, Robert Hawk?" Espio asked

"He deserved better. Somebody lied to him, promised him one thing, gave him another." Jet looked up at Espio, "Do you know that I used to have to dress him 'til he was thirteen? I would tie his ties, comb his hair. I'll have to get him a new suit" Jet closed his eyes, he leaned over Bobby and kissed him on the forehead, "Who is Otto Kreig?" asked Jet as he walked towards Espio, "Who are the people who work for him? Who are his friends? Who would stand to make money from this deal? Tell me."

"We can't talk about the case Mr Hawk." said Espio, "Now I understand your grief but for your own safety, leave this to professionals."

"Professionals? Yes." Jet walked back over to Bobby, "I'll to that. I'll do that." Jet kissed Bobby again, "Goodbye son."

Later Jet and the red echidna, Knuckles walked near the sea with two men following them, "We called New York, we called Las Vegas, we called Europe and Hong Kong, we even got the Sicilians in on it for old time's sake." Knuckles said, "With what you're paying Jet, we'll know everything there is to know about Otto Kreig within twenty four hours."

Aguadilla Bay

Puerto Rico.

Shadow and Spike appeared on the surface of the sea wearing scuba gear, they high fived, "Nice. Come on." said Shadow

"That was cool." said Spike, he was carrying something

"Leave it, we'll be back." said Shadow, "Race you?"

"Yeah."

"Got anything left? I don't see it. Come on."

The white bat, Rouge, was walking down the beach with a pink hedgehog and a light blue hedgehog with red streaks talking, when Shadow and Spike came up behind them, "He did his free ascent on his first try." said Shadow, "I've seen Navy SEALS do worse."

"That's what we like to hear." said the blue hedgehog

"That's great honey, I'm so proud of you." said the pink hedgehog

"Good job sweetie." said Rouge, "Hey Dash is that, that Candelaria?" she pointed across the sea to an old, grey wolf getting into a boat

"Yeah, Manuel." replied the blue hedgehog, "People around here call him a witch doctor. Lives on that island way off the point. Only one damn fool I know crazy enough to swim over there."

"Gee let me guess." said Rouge

Dash and Shadow both pointed at each other

That night there was a huge party, during them meal Dash stood up and tapped his glass, "This is the first family reunion we've had in five years, and that's too long." everyone began clapping, "Two families, that when you put them together you get this;" Dash pulled Spike to his feet by his arm, "My grandson." Spike blushed as everyone clapped, "I just want to say that, I'm very happy that you're all here, I'm very proud that you're all here," Dash lightly punched Shadow in the arm, "And that…I love you."

"We love you too dad." Shadow said, everyone cheered and continued talking.

Rouge and Shadow gazed at each other for a moment, then Shadow got up and walked towards the beach.

As Shadow walked he heard Rouge running after him, "Hey." she said as she put her hand on Shadow's shoulder

"Hey." Shadow replied

"What happened? What's Wrong?"

Shadow sighed, "Y'know." he quickly picked Rouge up and twirled her, "I can't believe, I'm home." they kissed, "That I could ever be so lucky. 'Cause there were times Rouge, I gotta tell you…"

"Shadow." the pair sank to the ground and kissed passionately

"I lost so much time, with both of you, and I'm really sorry-"

"Stop," Rouge interrupted, "Hey, I married you, I knew what I was doing, and I'd do it again. You and I, we're not lucky, we are blessed."


	4. Chapter 4

Just a heads up; this chapter is pretty long and (Supposed to be) full of angst, if it's not tell me and I'll try to make it better.

Chapter 4

At a cemetery Jet and John escort a woman wearing a black veil to a black limousine. A grey fox opened the door and Jet and the woman got in, "See you at home son." said Jet as John walked away. Jet rolled down the window and Knuckles walked up to the car and handed Jet a folder through the window. Jet opened the folder, which contained photos and information on Shadow, "His name's Shadow Hedgehog, senior agent. Just got the bureau's London desk. His alias, connections, apartments In Europe, none of it was real, not even his death."

"Well maybe it was," said Jet, "Maybe he died and came back to life so he could die again."

"You have your chance, he's leaving for England next week and he's at a family reunion in Puerto Rico." Knuckles said

"I think you should be there, so you can come back and tell Wave how he died." Jet said calmly

"Alright." Knuckles said, he nodded and went to walk away

"Wait." the woman said, Knuckles and Jet turned to face the woman as she lifted the veil to reveal herself to be a purple swallow, "His family, his whole family." she said

"Is this what you want?" asked Jet, the woman nodded and Jet turned to Knuckles and nodded.

The next morning Shadow stood in the doorway of Spike's room and watched his son as he slept. Shadow felt a hand on his shoulder and turned and smiled at Rouge, "Morning." he said

"Hey." they both watched Spike for a minute, "We should have another." Shadow suggested

"I'm ready." Rouge replied, Shadow's eyes widened, he opened his mouth to say something when he heard, "Another what?" Shadow and Rouge looked over and saw Spike sitting up

"Morning Spike." said Shadow, desperately trying to change the subject

"Come here." Spike replied, Shadow and Rouge both walked over to Spike's bed and sat either side of him, "There were selling T-shirts in town, one of them was really scary." Spike explained as he reached over and picked up a large envelope on a table, "The guy in the shop said it wards off evil spirits, it's really cool." Spike said as he handed the envelope to Shadow

"Did you know about this?" Shadow asked Rouge, she nodded. Shadow opened the envelope and pulled out a black T-shirt with a skull on it, "This is interesting." Shadow said

"Like it?" Spike asked

"Like it? I love it." Shadow replied, he kissed his son on the forehead, "Thanks."

Later that day Shadow sat watching all the members of his family playing, talking, enjoying themselves, little did he know that a few minutes ago a boat had landed on the other side of the island and Knuckles and John were on their way to the compound Shadow and his family were at with ten heavily armed men. Shadow looked around and it finally began to sink in, "It's really over, no more hiding, no more dangerous missions, from now on it's just me and my family." he thought.

Spike and Rouge walked down towards the beach as Dash grabbed his son's foot, which was on a table, and pulled it off the table, he motioned towards a small house nearby and the two hedgehogs walked over to it. Dash lead Shadow inside and pointed out a glass case with several handguns in it, Shadow walked over to the case and studied the guns, "Your 1911 Colts, you've done something to them."

"You could say that," Dash replied, "I bored the chamber and customized the triggers and added some compensators. They used to be pretty good but, now they're nail drivers."

Suddenly a gun shot rang out, Shadow and Dash both ran to the window and looked out to see a pink hedgehog fall to the floor, "Mom?" Shadow said in disbelief. The sound of guns firing filled the air, meanwhile Rouge and Spike were down on the beach, when they heard the gun shots they his under a boat, "Get down sweetie, get down." Rouge said franticly, "Get under here Spike."

Dash threw a shotgun and some shells across the room to Shadow, who caught them and loaded the gun while his father did the same, just then the door opened and Shadow shot the man on the other side, meanwhile the other men were going around killing everyone they could find, a hedgehog tried to get away on a motorcycle but was shot off, a bat on a boat was shot from the beach by a chipmunk, a squirrel stood next to a house, he heard a noise and bent down to see a man, a woman and a small boy hiding under the house, he shot them all. Dash and Shadow tried to leave the house they were in to help their family but a man with a machine gun fired as they tried to leave, the man then ran out of bullets and dove behind a barbeque pit as Dash fired at him. The man reloaded and stood and continued to shoot at Dash and Shadow, who fired back and hid either side of the doorway. Shadow edged round the doorway and saw a propane tank under the barbeque, he shot the tank and the barbeque exploded, killing the man behind it. Shadow and Dash ran out of the house and stopped dead as they saw their whole family dead, "Jesus." said Shadow as he gazed in horror at his mother's body on the floor and another body lying on a table, behind Dash and Shadow a grey fox hid behind an umbrella .

Rouge and Spike were still under the boat, Rouge then noticed a jeep with a boat attached to the back a few metres away, "Okay, I'm gonna count to three, and we're gonna run to the jeep, okay sweetie?" Rouge said

"What about dad?" asked Spike

"Dad'll be okay." Rouge reassured

Suddenly the fox shot Dash in the back, as the blue hedgehog fell to the floor Shadow whipped round knocked the gun out of the fox's hand, he then hit's the fox in the stomach with his gun and kneed him hard, then Shadow hit the fox in the face with the barrel of his gun, causing him to fall to the ground. Shadow then aimed the gun at the fox, a brown echidna quickly grabbed Shadow in a headlock and forced him to the ground.

Meanwhile Rouge counted, "One, two, three." Rouge and Spike got up and ran for the jeep, as they ran the chipmunk saw them. Shadow was still in a headlock until Dash stabbed the echidna in the back, the echidna released Shadow and fell down dead, Shadow knelt next to his father, who died right after stabbing the echidna. The chipmunk whistled to the others, Knuckles and John head the whistle, so did Shadow, he looked over and saw Rouge and Spike running for the jeep, as Shadow ran after his wife and son the grey fox grabbed his legs, tripping him. Rouge and Spike reached the jeep and got in as Shadow and the fox stood up, the fox took out a knife and swung it at Shadow while Rouge and Spike drove away, Rouge put her hand on Spike's head, "You hang on sweetie."

Knuckles and John got into a red pickup truck and the chipmunk and a porcupine got in the back and they drove after Rouge. Shadow grabbed the fox's wrist as he swung the knife and punched him in the head, the fox stumbled and Shadow tried to force the knife towards the his face, the two both tried to force the knife towards each other and eventually Shadow succeeded in slashing the fox's face, he then shoved the fox into a wooden support beam and knocked him out. Shadow franticly grabbed a shotgun and ran over to a motorcycle, he got on and drove after Rouge and Spike. Meanwhile the pickup was gaining on the jeep, the jeep hit a sand dune and soared over it and landed heavily, the pickup did the same, Rouge held her son, "You okay?" the chipmunk and the porcupine started shooting at the jeep. Shadow raced after the two cars as the pickup began ramming the back of the jeep, Rouge sped up and pulled away from the pickup, "Mom's gonna get help okay?" she said to Spike. The jeep then hit several large dips in the road and the boat on the back lifted into the air and hit the front of the pickup, which was now right behind Rouge and Spike, the boat fell from the jeep and blocked the path of the pickup as it tipped onto it's side. The chipmunk and the porcupine fired after Rouge and shot out the back tires on the jeep, which skidded out of control and flipped into the air. The jeep landed on it's side as the pickup began ramming the boat out of the way. Rouge and Spike clambered out of the car, covered in blood, "Come on sweetie, get out of the car." Rouge said

"Mom, my arm." Spike said as he held his broken wrist

"Come on baby, you can do it." Rouge said

"Mom, my arm."

"I know baby, but we have to keep moving, okay?" Rouge helped Spike to his feet and they began limping away from the jeep, Rouge looked over her shoulder and saw the pickup racing down the road towards her, the jeep blocked the path but Rouge knew they would be able to push it out of the way, "I need you to be a big boy and keep moving okay?" Rouge said, Rouge and Spike made their way towards a building next to a pier, Rouge began screaming, "Help! Somebody please help!"

The pickup began pushing the jeep aside as Rouge and Spike made it to the building and began banging on the door, "Somebody help me!" Rouge screamed, Spike then turned and noticed Dash's boat at the end of the pier, "Mom, the pier, Grandpa's boat." Rouge and Spike ran, limping, down the pier as the pickup pushed the jeep aside and followed them.

Shadow sped past the upturned boat from the back of the jeep as the pickup raced down the pier after Rouge and Spike. Rouge looked over her shoulder, horrified to see the pickup right behind her. Shadow finally made it to the pier, he leapt of the motorcycle, he checked the jeep and found it was empty, he ran down the pier, then he noticed Rouge and Spike lying on the ground, "No. Rouge!" Shadow stopped running a few feet away from the bodies and began to cry. Shadow staggered towards his wife and son and knelt beside them, he held their heads to his chest and cried. Shadow then heard a noise and looked up to see the pickup at the end of the pier, Shadow gently rested Rouge and Spike's heads on the pier. His face full of anger Shadow grabbed the shotgun, stood up and started to fire at the car, the chipmunk and the porcupine shot back and Shadow was hit in the leg, the black hedgehog fell to the ground but pulled himself to his knees and fired again. Shadow was hit a second time and fell to the ground but his second shot had hit the windscreen on the pickup and caused it to crash into the side of the pier. Shadow crawled across the pier towards his shotgun while Knuckles, John, the chipmunk and the porcupine got out of the car and walked towards him. Shadow climbed to his knees and aimed the shotgun at the men and pulled the trigger, nothing happened. John coolly walked over to Shadow and kicked him hard in the face, causing him to fall backwards, the chipmunk and the porcupine picked Shadow up and held him while John punched him in the face, one of the men lifted Shadow's head up and John punched him again, he then kicked Shadow in the chest and knocked him through the rail of the pier and down onto a dock. John, Knuckles and the two men walked down onto the dock and pulled Shadow to his knees, John took out a handgun and aimed it at Shadow, "My mother and father send their regards. This time they're not blanks." he said

Shadow whispered, "Rouge." John then shot Shadow and the hedgehog fell forward onto his stomach. Knuckles took a tank of gasoline and poured it around the dock, which had several petrol pumps on it, he then walked away and took out a lighter and set fire to the gasoline, the fire surged around the dock as Knuckles walked away. The dock exploded and flung Shadow backwards into the sea. Knuckles, John and the two thugs were standing on the pier watching, John lit a cigarette and the four men walked away.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Half a mile away from the burning dock Shadow emerged from the water and crawled onto the beach and fell over from exhaustion, a few minutes later a grey wolf found Shadow, as he reached down to help him Shadow grabbed the wolf's neck, "It's me Shadow, Candelaria. I'll take care of you." the wolf said, Shadow let go of Candelaria's neck and the wolf picked him up and carried him to a boat.

That night a black sports car pulled up to a large nightclub. Miles stood outside the club wearing a white uniform and cap, "Paulie, you gonna make love to that car or you gonna park it?" he shouted at a man at the wheel of a gleaming limo, "Get the junk outta here!" The limo pulled away and another limo pulled up, a valet opened the door and Jet, Wave, Knuckles and John stepped out and walked towards the building, "Big crowd tonight Mr Hawk," Miles said to Jet, who was reading a newspaper, "You look beautiful Mrs Hawk."

"Little prick." Wave replied, Jet handed John the newspaper and walked into the club with Wave, John glanced at the paper and thrust it into Miles's stomach before following his parents. Miles looked down at the headline; 'Ex-FBI agent Shadow Hedgehog killed gangland-style'

"Holy shit!" he exclaimed

Inside the club Jet, Wave, John and Knuckles sat at a table while people danced on a large dance floor in the middle of the room. The four raised their glasses of wine, "To Bobby." Jet said, they clinked their glasses together, Wave then said, "To a score settled." they all sipped their wine. Two men walked up behind Jet and whispered something to him, Jet nodded and looked over at Knuckles, "Knuckles, dance with Wave." the echidna nodded and led Wave onto the dance floor and began to dance slowly. The two men sat next to Jet and the three began talking.

Later Jet stood on a balcony, Wave joined him, "I got something for you." Jet said, he pointed to a small, black box on the rail. Wave picked up the box and opened it to reveal a pair of diamond earrings, "They're beautiful." she said as she put them on

"Without you they're just diamonds." Jet said

"I asked you to avenge our son and you did." Wave said as she took off her red dress, Jet walked over to Wave and they kissed.

Five months later.

Candelaria and Shadow arrived by boat at the island the family compound was on. Shadow got out of the boat and looked around the deserted area. Using a wooden crutch he limped towards the beach house he and his father had been in when the gang attacked. Inside packing boxes are pilled around the room and the windows are boarded up. Shadow looked around the room and saw a photograph of Rouge and Spike on top of the glass case Dash's guns were kept in, he picked up the photo and gazed at it, Shadow's right hand clenched into a tight fist and smashed through the glass case. Shadow took the guns, as well as several other guns, and wrapped them in a carpet. Shadow tied the carpet to his back and limped out of the house and down the beach. As Shadow walked he saw something in the sand, Candelaria watched as Shadow bent down and lifted a black T-shirt with a skull on it out of the sand, he looked at the shirt for a moment, then threw the crutch to Candelaria, as the wolf caught the crutch Shadow said, "Thank you." and turned to walk away

"_Vaya con Dios, _Shadow." Candelaria said, Shadow turned to him, "Go with god."

After a brief pause Shadow replied, "God's gonna sit this one out."

Some time later Shadow moved into an apartment building, he opened a trunk full of weapons and ammunition and began hiding weaponry around his apartment; he hid a grenade under the sink in his bathroom and built a switch next to the sink which caused the bathroom door to close when pressed, he built a small drawer under a tool bench and put a revolver in it, Shadow closed the drawer and hit the bench, the drawer popped out.

The next day a pink hedgehog sat outside the apartment building gardening, she heard something and looked over to see Shadow in a garage working on a car engine, later Shadow sat in the car, he pulled a sheet of metal down over the windscreen and lifted it back up.

Later that day the pink hedgehog sat in her apartment sewing, in another apartment a large, purple cat was cooking. In a third apartment a blue hedgehog with piercings in his lower lip and above his right eye sat at a computer screen playing a video-game, "You are insignificant. You are a coward. You are a great disappointment to your mother and I." the hedgehog said as he shot a man in the game, "Yes, die, die, I am the most amazing man in the world!"

Shadow revved his cars engine and the three people heard the noise and gathered on the landing of their floor and looked out the window down at Shadow as he tuned the car engine

"It's really loud," said the cat, "Is it supposed to be that loud?"

"Aw it's beautiful." said the blue hedgehog

"He hasn't slept all week." said the pink hedgehog

"How do you know"? the cat asked

"Cause I haven't slept all week." she replied

"Whaddya think he does?" said the blue hedgehog

"Maybe he's an artist." replied the girl

"Wow, our neighbour is an artist." said the cat

"Now you're the expert on artistes?" the blue hedgehog asked

"I've known a few." the girl replied

"So what do you think he's doing?" asked the cat

The girl shrugged, "Ask him."

"Oh, yeah, right, ask him." the blue hedgehog said sarcastically

"I'm late for work." said the girl as she walked down the stairs

"Bye Amy." the other two said

Later that night Miles walked to his car, opened the door and threw his valet uniform onto the back seat, "This is undignified." he complained. Suddenly a cars headlights shone onto him, Miles shielded his eyes for a moment, then he noticed a black and red hedgehog getting out of the car, "Y..y..you're supposed to be dead." he stuttered. Minutes later Miles was hanging by his feet from the ceiling in Shadow's apartment with his hands tied behind hid head, "Let's talk." he heard Shadow say

"Stay away from me Hedgehog, I have friends y'know." Miles said

"Let's talk about your friends."

"Make your own friends buddy, I'm not saying nothing. I talk to you, they'll kill me."

Shadow grabbed the back of Miles's head and glared at his upside down face, "You don't talk I'll kill you now Miles." he flicked Miles's nose and walked away

"The Hawks tell me nothing." Miles said, Shadow picked up a pair of gloves from a table behind Miles, on the table there lay a blowtorch, a pan with a steak in it and a popsicle. Shadow put on the gloves and a pair of goggles, "They pay your rent, you legal bills, you must know something." Shadow sat in a chair and wheeled in front of Miles with the blowtorch and lit it

"What's the torch for?" Miles asked nervously

The flame on the torch turned blue, "Two thousand degrees Miles, enough to turn steel into butter." Shadow wheeled round to behind Miles, "It won't hurt, at first, it's too hot, Y'see; the flame sears the nerve endings shut, killing them, you'll go into shock and all you'll feel is, cold."

Miles whimpered as Shadow wheeled round so Miles could see him, "Isn't science fun Miles?" Shadow pinched Miles, who jumped, Shadow then wheeled round behind Miles again, "I don't know shit!" Miles exclaimed

Shadow continued talking, ignoring Miles, "You'll smell burning meat and then, then it'll hurt."

"I swear I'm telling the truth!" Miles shouted. Shadow held the blowtorch over the steak and shoved the popsicle into Miles back, he began screaming, "Aahh! Son of a bitch!!" Shadow continues to prod Miles with the popsicle. Outside the cat and the blue hedgehog stood next to an open apartment doorway and looked nervously at Shadow's closed apartment door, "Should we call the police?" asked the cat

"Let's, stay out of it, he's a very scary man." the hedgehog replied

"He's killing someone and we're next."

"Exactly." the hedgehog rushed into the open apartment and closed the door before the cat could get in, "No, no, wait!" the cat cried.

In the apartment Shadow took the torch away from the steak, "Smell that Miles? I'm burning off some of your fat." Shadow burned the steak again and prodded Miles with the popsicle

"I'll tell you anything, anything, you wanna know!" Miles screamed

"That's a good boy." Shadow said

"Okay, any discussion of Jet Hawk's business involves two Cubans; The Toro Brothers. They control all the prostitution and gambling up and down the Gulf Coast. Tons of cash. They give their dirty money to Jet Hawk, who transports it in cigarette boats to his banks in Grand Cayman, washes it and wires it back clean as a whistle."

Shadow stabbed Miles with the popsicle again, "For the love of go-" Miles stopped speaking as Shadow stuck the popsicle in Miles's mouth. Unable to figure out what happened Miles was untied by Shadow, the fox stood up and surveyed the steak as Shadow took out a camera from a box near the wall, "You are not a nice person." said Miles, "So what's up? You gonna string up Jet Hawk and blowtorch him?"

"I like that idea, but I think I got a better one." said Shadow as he checked the camera, "And guess what; you're gonna help me, unless you wanna stay Jet Hawk's lackey for the rest of your life."

"I hate the Hawks, all of them."

"Tell me about them, what they do, where, when."

Miles nodded, "Jet Hawk's a man of strict habit's, he has first tee time five days a week at Tampa Springs, never fails. He likes money, he likes power, but the thing this guy covets most? The wife, Wave. What happened to your family, Jet did that for her. She's just like him, and she's just as predictable. Every Thursday she works out, gets her nails done and goes to the movies. Jet knows every move this broad makes. Any man who looks at her wrong, he ends up In Tampa Bay. Let's not forget Johnny-boy, the son you didn't kill, what a putz. Last but not least, Knuckles Echidna. Been with Jet twenty years, the family consigliore, lawyer, CPA, and a sadist. Who knows what's going on with this guy."

Over the next week Shadow went around taking photos of Jet, Wave and John, when he followed Knuckles to take photos of him he saw him shove a man into an alley and the two began to kiss. Shadow quickly took some photos and left.

Later at a graveyard Shadow tied a chain around a grave stone marked 'Shadow Hedgehog 1968-2003' the stone sat between two other grave stones marked 'Rouge Hedgehog' and 'Spike Hedgehog' Shadow tied the other end of the chain to his car and pulled at the stone until it came away from it's base.

Later Jet was walking over to a golf green when his cell phone rang, he picked up the phone and heard John say, "Pop, you're not gonna believe this."

"Oh I think I might." Jet replied as he gazed at the gravestone which was standing next to a golf hole, it was Shadow's gravestone and the 2003 had been scratched out.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

A man walked out of a courthouse and down the stairs in front of the building, he walked through a crowd of reporters with Espio by his side. The reporters shouted questions and were being pushed back by police. Espio and the man, who was the chief of police, saw Shadow standing at the bottom of the steps

"Shadow?" Espio said, stunned, the reporters surged towards Shadow but were held back by the police, "Where've you been?" asked Espio

"It's been five months since my family was killed, I don't see one man in jail." said Shadow coldly

"Obviously you're upset." the chief began

"Upset? Is that the word?" Shadow interrupted, "I used to get upset, when I had a flat tire. I used to get upset when a plane was delayed. I used to get upset, when the Yankees won the Series. So if that's what upset means, then how do I feel now? If you know the word tell me, because, I don't." Shadow turned and walked away.

Later it started to rain and Shadow, wearing a long black coat, the T-shirt with the skull on it and carrying a suitcase, crossed a road and walked round the back of a large bank. Shadow snuck inside the building and hid. As a man walked down a hallway Shadow grabbed him and slammed him into a wall, knocking him out. Shadow dropped the man to the floor and hid again as another man rounded a corner and saw the unconscious man. Shadow did the same to the second man and took a key card from round his neck and used it to unlock a door. Inside a large room three men sat at desks sorting money, on man, without looking, took a wooden spoon and dipped it into a pan on a hotplate and sipped the sauce on the spoon, he went to put the spoon back in the pan but it wasn't there. The man looked up and Shadow splashed the contents of the pan onto the man's face and hit him over the head with it, before the other two men could react Shadow aimed a shotgun at them. The men held there hands up, "Get up. Wheel the money out." Shadow said. The two men wheeled a cart filled with money after Shadow as he walked towards a window. Shadow threw the suitcase he was carrying at the men, "Fill that up."

As the men put money in the suitcase Shadow stuck two suction pads to the window

"You know who's money this is? You know who's building this is?" one of the men asked

"Jet Hawk's." Shadow answered as he cut a circle around the suction pads

"He's gonna fuck your life up." said the other man

"He already fucked my life up." said Shadow as he pulled the chunk of glass away with the suction pads, leaving a large hole in the window. Shadow turned to the men, "Now, out the window." the two men looked at each other, "What?" said one, Shadow cocked the shotgun, "Out the window."

Downstairs a chipmunk and a porcupine sat in the lobby, they heard tries screeching and people shouting outside. They went out to see what was happening and saw money falling from the sky, the two looked at each other and went back inside to phone Jet. As they reached the other end of the lobby the two saw Shadow standing in a doorway and stopped, "Good business, murder?" Shadow asked, "Does Hawk pay you for each one? Or does he get a group-rate discount?"

Shadow stepped towards the two, who backed away. They eventually stopped in front of a glass sign in the middle of the lobby, Shadow put down the suitcase he was carrying, all three tensed themselves. The chipmunk and the porcupine drew their guns and Shadow drew his and shot them before they had time to fire.

Later the blue hedgehog and the cat sat in an apartment looking at several TV screens, on a computer screen is Shadow's profile, "He speaks six languages, he did two tours with 12th special Ops CTU." the hedgehog explained

"What's CTU?" the cat asked

"Counter Terrorism Unit."

Then the two friends heard someone coming up the stairs, "It's him." said the cat. The pair snuck over to the door and carefully opened it to see Shadow walk down the corridor. The cat tripped and fell out into the hallway and landed on top of the hedgehog. Shadow turned round and eyed the two

"Hi there." said the hedgehog as he waved his hand, Shadow stared for a second before he entered his apartment, the two shuffled back into the apartment.

Later Shadow sat on a couch holding a glass of Scotch, as Shadow refilled the glass images from the day his family was killed flashed before his eyes, finally an image of John Hawk shooting him appeared and he dropped the glass, which shattered as it hit the floor.

In Jet's office Jet sat behind a desk and John and Knuckles sat in front of the desk, the grey fox Shadow slashed the day his family was killed stood next to the door

"How is he still alive? I don't know Knuckles. I wasn't there. Why is he still alive? Now that is an interesting question. Maybe he's still alive because he was meant to suffer more, I don't know. But how can we make him suffer if we can't find him?"

Knuckles paused, "He's daring us." he said

"No, no, he misses his family, and he wants to die. He's asking for help, so let's help him."

Jet paused for a few seconds, "The Toro's call?"

"They'll be here tomorrow morning." Knuckles answered

"You invited them to this house?" Jet asked

"They invited themselves Jet."

The next day Jet walked out of his mansion and greeted a polar bear and a squirrel, "Bark, Ray, welcome. Let's get a drink."

"We don't have time for that Jet." said the bear

"Oh my god this weather." Jet said, trying to avoid the subject of the money Shadow had thrown out of the bank the other day since it was their money

"Yeah just a little polluted, don't you think?" asked the squirrel

"I've seen hurricanes. Seen it rain like cats and dogs, but never in all my years have I seen it rain hundred dollar bills." the bear said

"Yeah this rainmaker, Hedgehog, he was supposed to be dead right?" the squirrel asked

"Yeah," said Jet nervously, "Guys, look, come on, working together for ten years. This is the first time anything like this has ever happened."

"At a personal loss to us of fifty million dollars Jet, that's one time too many." the bear said, "Do you want us to find another banker?"

"No." Jet laughed half heartedly

"Okay," said the bear, "Look, we want our money back, all right? And we want protection on the next shipment. Do you guarantee our money this time?"

"With everything I've got." answered Jet. The bear and squirrel smiled and walked away.

"In forty eight hours Hedgehog's a memory, a pro from Memphis, the best." Knuckles said reassuringly as he and Jet walked away.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

That night the pink hedgehog, Amy, sat in her apartment crying while a dark brown haired rat, who was obviously either high or drunk, pounded on her door, "Come on Amy. Open up the goddamn door so I can tell you how you hurt my fucking feelings you bitch!! You hurt my feelings. I wanna talk to you now, how you hurt my feelings. Amy open up the goddamn door so I can show you how you hurt my feelings you bitch!!" the blue hedgehog and the cat came out of their apartments

"Um, dude?" said the hedgehog, the rat turned to him, "It's kinda late."

"Yeah?" replied the rat, "Well what time is it in Hawaii?"

"You should leave right now." the cat said

"Shut your face you lard-ass." the rat said angrily, the cat backed into his apartment, "Amy, come on baby, let me in." the rat said

"I'm gonna call the cops." the blue hedgehog said. The rat walked over to the hedgehog and grabbed him, "Yeah? You gonna call the cops?" the rat slapped the hedgehog in the face, "Call them, call them, call them." he continued to slap the hedgehog until he heard a dark voice say, "Hey." the rat and the hedgehog both turned to see Shadow standing in the doorway to his apartment, "Get out." Shadow said, the rat took out a butterfly knife and walked towards Shadow, doing tricks with the knife. Before the rat could react Shadow punched him in the nose, the rat fell against the wall holding his nose, Shadow took the knife off him and flipped it, as all the blades swung back into the handle Shadow said calmly, "You shouldn't play with knives." he then hit the rat on the nose with the knife. Amy watched through the spy hole as Shadow grabbed the rat and dragged him down stairs. Meanwhile the blue hedgehog stood stunned at the top of the stairs, "No one's ever stood up for me before." Amy and the cat emerged from their apartments, the cat walked over to the hedgehog and eyed the mark left from when the rat had slapped him, "Come on champ, let's get some ice on that." the cat helped the hedgehog into his apartment, "Shadow kicked his ass huh?"

Amy walked towards them "He's fine, he's alright." the cat said, the two disappeared into the apartment as Shadow climbed the stairs and stopped next to Amy as she spoke to him, "I um, I've lived in seven cities in seven years and, in each on I've managed to find the one guy who'll treat me the worst. But I'm trying to fix that." Shadow walked towards his apartment

"You're Shadow Hedgehog right?"

"Used to be." Shadow replied

"We saw you on TV."

"I don't have one." Amy followed Shadow

"I'm Amy, Sonic's the one with all the um, the metal, and Big's, well you can probably guess

which one Big is." Amy paused, "We're really sorry."

Shadow looked confused, "About what?"

"About your family."

"Did you know them?"

"No."

"Then there's nothing to be sorry for." Shadow walked into his room and picked up a black bag. As he walked out Amy saw a bottle of Scotch and a glass on a table in Shadow's apartment, "Don't let your memories kill you." she said as Shadow closed the door, Shadow turned to Amy, "They won't kill me."

Later Wave got out of her car and walked into a movie theatre, Shadow walked over to the car and unzipped the bag he was carrying. He took a fake fire hydrant out of the bag and put it on the sidewalk next to the car. Shadow used a small machine to electronically unlock the door and got in and used the same machine to start the engine, then Shadow spotted Wave's handbag on the passenger side seat and looked through it until he found the pair of earrings Jet had given her. Shadow put the earrings back and took out Wave's cell phone, he attached a voice changing device to it and dialled Knuckles's number.

In his house Knuckles sat reading when the phone rang, he picked up the phone, "Hello?" he heard Shadow's distorted voice say, "Knuckles Echidna?"

"Who is this?" Knuckles asked

"I have certain photographic studies of you and your boyfriend. Meet me at the bar at the Wyndham Hotel, bring five thousand dollars and I'll give you the photos. You wouldn't want Jet Hawk to see them Mr Echidna."

Later Shadow pulled into the Wyndham Hotel in Wave's car, he parked the car in a 'No Parking' zone and got out and walked away. Some time later a traffic cop put a parking ticket on the windscreen of Wave's car and left. Later Knuckles pulled into the hotel and went inside. As Knuckles entered the hotel Shadow got back in Wave's car and drove off. When Shadow rearrived at the movie theatre he parked in front of the fire hydrant he placed there earlier and got out. Shadow put the hydrant back in his bag and left. Some time later Knuckles left the hotel and drove off. Meanwhile at Jet's mansion Jet entered John's room and saw his son pouring a drink, "Knuckles's late. Do you know where he is?" Jet asked

"I have no idea." replied John

"Have you seen your mother?"

"It's Thursday pop."

"Right, movies." Jet turned to walk out of the room, Miles stood in the hallway, "Mr Hawk." Jet turned to him, "I know where Mr Echidna is; I saw him pulling into the Wyndham Hotel, couple hours ago." Miles walked away as Jet walked into a room, Wave and Knuckles stood talking in the room. Wave saw Jet, "Jet, come here." Jet walked over to her, "I was just telling Knuckles about the movie."

"Where've you been Knuckles?" Jet asked suspiciously, "I've been looking for you."

"I dozed off out by the pool." Knuckles answered

"That's funny." said Jet

"What's funny?" asked Knuckles

"Well Miles said that he saw you at the Wyndham." said Jet

"Miles should have his eyes checked." Knuckles said defensively

"So he's mistaken?"

"Yes Jet he, he's mistaken."

Jet nodded and motioned for Wave to follow him as he walked out of the room.


	8. Chapter 8

Before you read this chapter I just want to say the song in here is not mine, it is in the movie, just incase anyone thinks I wrote it.

Chapter 8

The next morning Sonic and Big sat at the counter in a diner eating pancakes, Amy stood on the serving side of the counter

"Oh my god, these pancakes are really good Amy." Big said, Amy smiled

Big turned and looked at Shadow, who was sat alone by a window, "What's he been doing for the last few days?"

Amy sighed, "Drinking. A lot."

The door to the diner opened and Sonic, Big and Amy looked over to see a purple weasel carrying a guitar case standing in the doorway

"Morning sir. Sit down where you like." said Amy, the weasel silently walked over to a table and sat down, he kept his eyes fixed on Shadow the whole time. The weasel lit a cigarette and put his guitar case down and opened it slowly. Shadow cautiously reached behind his back and took hold of a handgun in his back pocket as the weasel lifted a guitar out of the case. Shadow relaxed slightly and let go of the gun, the weasel then began to play;

_I can hear what you're thinking_

_All your doubts and fears_

_And if you look in my eye in time you'll find_

_The reason I'm here_

_And in time all things shall, pass away_

_In time, you may come back some day_

_To live once more, or die once more_

_But in time your time will be no more._

Amy, Sonic and Big looked at each other, confused as the weasel got up and strolled over to Shadow

"Do I know you?" Shadow asked, unsure of what to make of the weasel

"I know you. You're that boy in the newspaper, came back from the dead."

Shadow glanced around uncaringly, "I didn't catch you name."

The weasel lifted his guitar case and Shadow saw written on in gold letters 'Harry Heck'

"You like that song?" asked the weasel, "I wrote that for you." Harry walked over to the door and turned, "I'm gonna sing it at your funeral." Harry walked out of the diner as Shadow smirked.

Later Shadow drove towards a bridge and stopped as the barrier came down and the bridge raised. Shadow looked in his rear view mirror and saw a green car speeding towards him. Shadow tried to drive away but the green car hit the side of his own and knocked it into a rail. Shadow looked out his window and saw Harry get out of the green car with a shotgun, as Harry shot at Shadow the black hedgehog pulled down the sheets of metal over his windows and windscreen and took a handgun out of the glove compartment. As Harry continued to shoot, Shadow hit the accelerator and drove through the barrier and up the diagonal bridge. Quickly Shadow pushed up the sheets of metal and saw he was driving straight for the side of the bridge, he turned and jumped over the gap between the two halves of the bridge and landed heavily on the road. As Shadow drove away a little girl ran out into the middle of the road after her ball, Shadow swerved hard and drove into the other lane, where another car was coming in the opposite direction. Shadow turned but still hit the car and was flipped upside down. Shadow crawled out of his car as Harry pulled up and got out. Shadow took out a flick knife as Harry pulled a revolver out of his coat, "You are one dumb son of a bitch. Bring a knife to a gunfight." as Harry aimed his gun Shadow pressed a button on his knife and the blade fired out of the handle and landed in Harry's neck. Blood spurted out as Harry fell down dead, Shadow got up and walked over to Harry's car and drove away.

That night John Hawk was at a beach where Jet transported the Toro Brothers money, he stood on a boat loaded with money. As he waited for the other boats to be loaded John heard a beeping noise, he looked around the boat and saw a small grey block next to a stack of money. John lifted the block and examined it, then he turned it over and saw the words 'Front toward enemy' on it, John dropped the mine and jumped out of the boat as it exploded. The hawk looked up and saw Shadow standing at the top of a sand dune nearby, John glared at Shadow as he walked away.

In Jet's office Knuckles told him what happened. Jet smashed a glass against the wall, "All of it?! All!?!"

Then Jet and Knuckles heard a voice say, "Look at this Ray. This is what I'm talking about." Jet and Knuckles left the office and saw the Toro's walking into the room with two men, one man grabbed Ray, "Hey, don't fucking touch me dick-head!" the squirrel shouted

"Don't tell them 'til we have a plan." whispered Jet, meanwhile Bark continued talking, "Just look at this place, isn't it beautiful. Jet, we had chicken a la Havana tonight, very tasty." the bear strolled over to a vault, one shelf was lined with cigars

"Don't touch the Cubans." Jet said threateningly

Bark laughed as he picked up a cigar, "Have you heard the news?"

"A shipment of cash was torched on Mullet Key," said Ray, "Who's money was it huh?"

"Our mother always put her cash in her mattress, which I thought was a good idea, 'til the house burned down." Bark explained, "It was a big fire, she lost everything. That's what happens when you don't watch your money; you lose everything Jet, everything."

"Fourteen shipments are perfect," argued Jet, "One went bad, and I get this, why? Because you want to scare me? There's no insurance in this business, you know that. So I'm not covering your fucking losses. And Bark, if you don't like it just remember one thing; I've got more guns than you do." Jet walked into his office as Bark put the cigar in his mouth and then threw it on the ground, "It's not even Cuban Jet, it's Honduran." Bark and Ray walked out as Knuckles walked back into Jet's office, Jet sat in his chair

"They're animals." said Knuckles, "With all due respect we don't have more guns. It's my duty to-"

"It's your duty to make that fucking hedgehog dead!!" Jet shouted, "I don't care what it takes, what it costs! Call Vector."

The next day in Shadow's apartment Shadow sat drinking when he heard a knock at his door, Shadow hid a gun in his pocket and slowly opened the door to see Sonic standing in the hallway

"Hi, um, Shadow we kinda need your help right now because, the guy that's after Amy, he's in her apartment right now."

Shadow closed the door, "God damn it." he thought. Shadow opened the door again, "Gimme a minute." he said. Shadow flung open the door of Amy's apartment and saw Big and Amy standing next to a table covered in food, "We want you to have dinner with us." Amy said, Shadow turned and saw Sonic looking shamefully at him from the doorway, Shadow sighed, "Fine." Later everyone finished their food and Amy spoke just as Shadow finished, "I know it's not Thanksgiving, but, um, I'd like us to all say what we're thankful for."

"Oh gimme a break." Shadow thought

"I'll start," Amy paused for a second, "I'm thankful to be alive this year, and to have a job, and to be sober."

"Yeah, I'm thankful for, my mom, getting out of jail, which y'know, is cool." said Sonic, "And this girl gave me her number, which, is also cool."

"Thanks for leftovers, I'm full." said Big, "Uh, thanks for Diet Pepsi, and thanks for good neighbours." Everyone then stared at Shadow as he stayed silent

"Thanks for dinner." Shadow finally said, as he went to leave Big quickly said, "There's dessert, Ice Florentine. You have to try my Ice Florentine, come on Sonic." Sonic looked up at Big, confused, "Come on, I need your help."

As the two left the room Shadow lifted his plate

"No it's okay, I'll do that." Amy said quickly. Shadow put his plate down and wandered over to the window, as he gazed out at the world Amy appeared beside him, "I know what it's like. I know what it's like to try and make your memories go away." she walked round and stood close to Shadow, "You can make new memories, good ones." Amy stroked the side of Shadow's face, "Good memories can save your life." Shadow stood perfectly still as Amy leaned closer to him. Just when Amy was an inch away from Shadow he gently took her hand away from his face, "I'm not what you're looking for." Shadow then walked away and left Amy looking out of the window.


	9. Chapter 9

Just so you know, even if there was no violence, cursing or anything else in this fic this chapter would still earn it an M rating. Want to know why? Read on.

Chapter 9

Shadow walked back to his apartment and took out the bottle of Scotch, meanwhile Amy entered Big's apartment just as Big put on a CD of opera, Amy began to help with the cooking and Big began to mime to make it seem he was singing the opera on the CD and Sonic danced around the room, causing Amy to explode with laughter. Shadow took a swig of Scotch as someone knocked at his door, "God damn it." Shadow opened the door and was greeted by a fist to his face, Shadow stumbled backwards and slammed the door closed but a second fist burst through the door and forced it open to reveal a large crocodile. Shadow punched the crocodile but they didn't hurt him, the croc then backhanded Shadow and he fell to the floor.

The crocodile, Vector, grabbed the back of Shadow's shirt and lifted him of the ground and threw him across the room, Shadow grabbed a chain hanging from the ceiling and swung back and kicked Vector in the head. The croc stumbled as Shadow grabbed a knife from the table next to him and stabbed Vector in the shoulder. Vector smiled evilly and grabbed Shadow's hand and pulled the blade out of him, Shadow stared in disbelief and Vector grabbed Shadow by the throat and slammed him into a wall. Meanwhile Big had turned up the music, so no one heard Shadow cry out in pain as Vector forced the knife, which was still in Shadow's hand, into the hedgehog's shoulder. Shadow kneed Vector in the stomach and took a box, which was on a shelf above Shadow, and smashed it over Vector's head. The two fell to the ground but Vector quickly recovered and slammed Shadow into the wall three times before throwing him across the room. Shadow reached for a wrench but Vector pushed them away and stood over Shadow, who took a piece of metal on a bench and hit Vector with it hard in the face, Vector glared at Shadow, unaffected by the blow. Shadow stared again and swung a second time, Vector grabbed the piece of metal and swung it, causing Shadow to be flung across the room again.

Shadow landed next to the bathroom and quickly crawled in as Vector walked towards him, Shadow took the grenade from under the sink, took the pin out and threw it out the door, pressing the switch on the wall as the grenade went into the room Vector was in. Vector swung the piece of metal like a baseball bat and hit the grenade, sending it smashing through a glass window on the bathroom door, the grenade landed next to Shadow who franticly climbed into the bathtub, "Oh shit." Just then the grenade exploded and Vector walked into what was left of the bathroom and picked Shadow up and threw him into a wall. Meanwhile the explosion had shaken the apartment building and Big, Sonic and Amy all stood silently, the CD player had stopped. As Vector slammed Shadow into the wall the CD player started again and the three friends carried on as if nothing had happened, Vector then tore the toilet away from the wall and swung it at Shadow, who was sent crashing through a wall. Vector exploded through the wall after Shadow, who now lay on the ground, and wrapped his hands around Shadow's neck.

Vector picked Shadow up by the neck and pushed him along a counter, there was a window above the counter and it was opposite another window Sonic was next to, Sonic was too busy watching Big and Amy dancing to notice Shadow being strangled, when Sonic finally turned and looked through the window Vector had pulled Shadow away. Vector put Shadow's head in the refrigerator and slammed the door shut on his head several times before letting him go. Shadow crawled across the floor and hit the side of a bench with his fist, the drawer with the revolver popped out and Shadow took hold of it. Vector grabbed Shadow's wrist with one hand and forced the gun down onto the bench and took hold of a dumbbell with his other hand and brought the dumbbell down onto the barrel of the gun. Vector took a step back and Shadow eyed the gun, the barrel had been completely bent, "Oh, fuck." Vector then picked Shadow up and threw him through another wall. Shadow flew through the wall and crashed into a brick wall out in the hallway. Shadow tried to crawl away as Vector walked up behind him.

In Big's apartment the three friends were laughing and talking when suddenly Shadow burst through the door backwards and landed on the floor, Vector walked in after him and strangled Shadow again. Shadow fell back against a stove as Vector tightened his grip around Shadow's neck. Shadow then kicked Vector in the head, causing him to stumble back, and grabbed a boiling pot on top of a cooker and threw the contents at Vector. As the boiling water scolded Vector's face Shadow charged at him and they both fell out of the apartment, through the rail around the staircase and down the stairs. Amy, Sonic and Big ran out of the apartment and stopped at the top of the stairs and looked down at Shadow and Vector, who both lay on the floor. Shadow wearily climbed to his feet as Big spoke, "Mr Hedgehog? Shadow?" Shadow looked up at them, he was covered in blood, "I'm fine," Shadow looked down at Vector, his neck was broken, "He's not." Shadow then collapsed backwards and Amy, Sonic and Big rushed down to help him. Big and Sonic dragged Shadow into his apartment and sat him in a chair, "We gotta get him to a hospital." Amy said

"He needs a doctor, You , you need a doctor." Big said

"No hospital, no police." Shadow said wearily

"Alright, alright." Amy said as she walked away

"I know what he wants." Sonic said as he ran into Shadow's kitchen, Big walked into a room and looked around at the destruction the fight had caused while Amy took some rubbing alcohol and some sewing equipment from a cupboard and Sonic got the bottle of Scotch. When Sonic returned to Shadow he took hold of the cork and pulled, then Shadow grabbed the bottom of the bottle and yanked it out of Sonic's hand, leaving him with the cork. Shadow gulped the Scotch until Amy gently took hold of the bottle and put it on a bench, Amy used a pair of scissors and cut through Shadow's shirt. As Big and Sonic looked on Amy poured alcohol on the knife wound in Shadow's shoulder, Shadow winced as the alcohol soaked in. Amy put a piece of cotton wool over the wound and picked up a sewing needle

"It sure looks like you know what you're doing Amy." said Sonic

"I don't know much, but I'm good with a needle. Don't ask. This'll hurt." Amy then began sewing the wound shut, Big covered his eyes and Sonic leaned over Shadow, "He looks weak. Is he gonna die?"

Amy pushed the needle through Shadow's skin and Shadow's hand shot from his side and grabbed Sonic's arm in a tight grip, "Appearances aren't everything." Sonic said as he was lowered to his knees by Shadow's grip, "You can let go now." he said. Shadow let go of Sonic and Amy continued to sew. Outside a black car pulled up and Knuckles, John and two men got out, one was the grey fox, Sonic looked out the window and saw them, "We have to move him."

"Where? There's no place to go." said Big, "What do we do?"

Sonic accidentally flicked a switch on a bench as he walked past it and two metal panels in the floor lifted, Sonic smirked, "Elevator."

The four men found the dead body of Vector and walked up the stairs casually while Amy, Big and Sonic helped Shadow into the elevator. As the four men walked into Shadow's apartment Big and Sonic sat in silence, the men eyed Big and Sonic and Knuckles walked over to Sonic, inside the elevator Amy lay on the floor next to Shadow with her hand over his mouth. Knuckles stood in front of Sonic, "Where's Shadow? Shadow Hedgehog? Who lives here." Big and Sonic stayed silent, "I asked you a question fat man." said Knuckles as he turned to face Big

"Leave him alone." said Sonic

"Then I'll ask you." Knuckles said as he turned back to Sonic, "Where's Shadow?"

"He's not here." answered Sonic

"Really? Are you sure?"

"I, actually-"

"What did you say? Hm?" Knuckles asked as he and Sonic eyed each other, "I'm having a difficult time hearing you."

"I said, I'm not saying shit." Sonic replied, sounding determined

"Well I don't want you to say shit, I want you to answer me." Knuckles said coolly, "You don't want to say anything about anything you might know?"

When Sonic didn't answer Knuckles walked over to a cabinet and took out a pair of pliers, Amy watched through a hole in the metal panel above the elevator, Shadow groaned and Amy franticly covered his mouth again. Knuckles pulled up a stool and sat in front of Sonic, "Maybe we should get to know each other a little better." Knuckles said, "What's your name?"

Sonic reluctantly answered, "Sonic."

"You go to school around here?" Sonic shook his head, "You don't go to school?"

"No, no, I dropped out."

"You dropped out?" Knuckles ran his finger across his bottom lip, "What are you doing with all this stuff? What is that?"

Sonic glanced down at the piercings in his lip, "Piercings." he answered

"Piercings?" Knuckles repeated, "Did it hurt when you do that?"

"Little bit."

"You like that? That it hurt a little bit?"

"No."

Knuckles reached over and took hold of the piercing above Sonic's eye, "That's a special one there, isn't it? Is that your favourite? That's hard to get."

"Yeah." said Sonic as he leaned away. Knuckles began to toy with the pliers as Sonic and Big looked at him, unsure of what was about to happen, "Answer my question please." Knuckles said

"No." Sonic said

Knuckles moved the pliers towards Sonic's eye, Sonic leaned away and tired to push Knuckles's hand away but Knuckles eventually clamped the pliers onto the piercing above Sonic's eye and pulled it, "Your friend's about to have a bad day, you can save him by talking." Knuckles said calmly as he turned to Big. Big didn't answer and Knuckles pulled harder, "It didn't have to be this way. You think you know about pain boy?" Amy, who was watching through the hole put her hand over her mouth and Big covered his face with his hands and Knuckles tore the piercing away from Sonic's face. Sonic fell back into his chair screaming, "That's okay, you gonna tell me now, Sonic? Sonic." Knuckles spoke calmly as Sonic continued to scream, "No."

"Okay, why don't you and I just see if we can discover the true nature of pain." Sonic screamed louder as Knuckles grabbed him and leaned closer to him with the pliers. Later Knuckles, John and the two men walked out the apartment building, "If they knew they would've talked." said Knuckles, "They must not have known." John turned to one of the men, "If-when he shows up, kill him." Knuckles, John and the grey fox walked away and left the fourth man, who began pacing the corridors.

At Jet's mansion Jet picked up a ringing phone, "Go ahead."

"Hedgehog's alive, Vector's dead." John replied over the phone

"Where's Knuckles?"

"Home. I'm at the office"

"Close the club, get everyone in. we're going hunting." Jet put down the phone as Wave entered the room, "I'll be back after ten." Jet stared into space and didn't notice Wave

"Darling?" Wave said, Jet looked round, "It's Thursday." Wave walked over and kissed Jet before leaving.

In Shadow's apartment Amy and Shadow reappeared as the elevator raised. Big silently pointed towards the doorway, Shadow looked over and saw the shadow of the man in the hallway move back and forwards. Shadow walked over to a bench with a large paper cutter on it and opened a drawer. When Shadow couldn't see a gun he looked down at the paper cutter, he smirked as he unscrewed it and rested the blade over his shoulder and walked out into the hallway. The man walked down the hallway with Shadow sneaking up behind him, as the man turned and saw Shadow the paper cutter blade sliced down through his head. As the man toppled over backwards Shadow re-entered his apartment

"Look what they did to him." said Big as Shadow walked over towards Sonic, who sat in a chair, covered in blood, "They tried to make me talk. I gave them nothing." Sonic mumbled

Shadow paused, "You don't owe me. You don't owe me anything. I've brought you nothing but trouble. Why were you ready to die for me?"

Sonic chuckled, "Because, you're one of us. You're family."

Shadow paused for a second before helping Sonic to his feet and walking him over to Big, "Get him to a hospital." Shadow watched as Big lead Sonic out of the room.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Later Shadow was checking over his guns and ammo as Amy watched him, "Say you kill them all," Amy said tearfully, "Then what? What makes you any different from them?"

Shadow turned to her, "They have something to lose."

"You're gonna die tonight, aren't you?" Shadow didn't answer, "Is that what you want?" again Shadow didn't answer, Amy walked away and left Shadow to carry on with his preparations. Later Shadow sat at a table writing in a book, 'I leave this as a declaration of intent so no one will be confused. One; _Sic vis pacem, Para bellum, _Latin. The boot camp sergeant made us recite it like a prayer. _Sic vis pacem, Para bellum_; If you want peace, prepare for war. Two; Shadow Hedgehog is dead, he died with his family. And three; in certain, extreme situations the law is inadequate. In order to shame it's inadequacy it is necessary to act outside the law, to pursue natural justice. This is not vengeance, revenge is not a valid motive it's an emotional response. No, not vengeance, punishment.'

Later Shadow walked out of the building with a black bag and wearing a long black coat and a black tank top. Wave parked her car in front of the movie theatre and walked in, Shadow appeared and placed the fake fire hydrant next to the car before getting in. Inside the car Shadow took the diamond earrings out of Wave's hand bag and picked up Wave's cell phone. At Knuckles's house the phone rang, "Hello?"

Knuckles heard Shadow's voice, distorted by the voice changer again, "Knuckles, those pictures of you, I changed my mind, the number's now ten thousand. Be at McNabs, a men's store on Broadway at nine pm, or they'll have their own website."

"You listen to me you son of a-"

"Remember, nine pm, just do it Echidna."

Shadow hung up the phone and Knuckles went over to his safe.

At Jet's mansion Miles's cell phone rang, "Prower speaking."

"You're on." he heard Shadow say, Miles smiled evilly before walking into the bathroom, Jet stood in front of a mirror, "Mr Hawk. How do you want me to pay for this?" Miles asked as he held up the parking ticket that was put on Wave's car the week before

"Pay for what?" Jet asked

"I was detailing Mrs Hawk's car and I found this ticket." Miles handed Jet the ticket

"Just take care of it. Where was it?"

"The Wyndham Hotel."

"What's that date?" asked Jet as he looked at the ticket

"September 5th. Last Thursday."

Jet stared at the ticket for a moment, "Where did you say Knuckles was last Thursday?"

"The Wyndham Hotel. But Mrs Hawk was at the movies last Thursday, I mean, wasn't she?"

"Do you have a key for Knuckles's house?"

"Sure, I do his laundry." Miles handed Jet a key and walked away

"Miles." Jet said, Miles stopped in the doorway, "Get me last months phone bill."

"Yes sir."

At Knuckles's house Knuckles drove away as Shadow snuck inside. Jet got in his car and drove away from his mansion as Knuckles waited in a store. A shop assistant walked over, a large smile on his face, "Need help with some underpants sir?"

Knuckles glared at the man, "Go fuck yourself." the smile on the man's face quickly disappeared as he walked away.

Inside Knuckles's house Jet walked around, eventually he entered the bedroom and saw something on the bed, he walked over and picked it up and realised it was one of the diamond earrings he had given Wave, Jet closed his eyes and closed his fist around it.

Downstairs Knuckles arrived home, he walked into the living room and threw his coat onto a chair, Jet stood on the stairs behind him, "Evening Knuckles."

Knuckles whipped round, "Jet. What're you doing here?"

"Jim Bowie." Jet replied as he calmly walked down the stairs

"Excuse me?"

"Y'know, Jim Bowie, the colonel. The man who died at the Alamo, had a knife named after him. He was a gambler, and when he was accused of cheating at cards, what he would do, was he'd take the guy in the other room," Jet began to shove chairs about with his foot, "Move the furniture like so, and he'd take his knife. He'd throw it in the ground, and the one that left, got the money."

"Well gee, I didn't know that Jet."

"The only problem is that you have too much furniture." Jet said, showing anger in his voice

"I'm not following you."

"I'm accusing you."

"Of what?"

Jet took out a flick knife, "Cheating."

"I've never taken a cent from you."

Jet threw the knife into a table, it landed blade first and embedded itself in the table, "Where were the two of you gonna do it next time? The Wyndham?"

"Two who?"

"You and the whore."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Jet chuckled and barged into Knuckles with his shoulder, "You're good. You should've been a stage actor. Maybe next life time." Jet grabbed Knuckles by the throat

"What're you, what're you doing?"

"You better pick up the knife Knuckles, because if you don't I will."

"I don't need to grab the knife Jet."

Jet picked up the knife and let go of Knuckles

"This isn't funny Jet." Jet slashed Knuckles's arm, "Whoa! What? What!?"

"How long have you worked for me? What do you think I'm an idiot?"

Jet punched Knuckles in the face, as he stumbled Knuckles said angrily, "Have you lost you mi-" Jet thrust the knife into Knuckles's stomach, "You were my brother, I gave you everything, denied you nothing. But it wasn't enough, my Wave."

"What, what did she, tell..you." Knuckles gasped as he rested his hand on Jet's shoulder. Jet took the blade out and stabbed Knuckles again, "Don't do this! Don't do this." Jet stabbed Knuckles a third and fourth time, "Jet, you're killing me, you're killing me. Why? Why're you killing me? Why?" Knuckles slid to the floor. Jet slowly turned and walked away, outside Shadow sat in his car. Later Wave pulled up to the mansion and went in to see Jet standing at the top of the stairs throwing Wave's things down into the foyer, "What the hell are you doing?" she asked angrily

"I know about you and Knuckles." Jet replied calmly

"Knuckles?" she said, confused

"You went to the movies last Thursday, eight pm?"

"Yes."

"Then at nine you called him from your car, must've been a short movie." Jet began walking down the stairs

"Jet, there's an explanation."

"Oh I know; you're fucking him. You're fucking my best friend."

"That would be a little hard to accomplish Jet."

"Oh, so true. So true." Jet turned, Wave followed his gaze to a rolled up carpet with Knuckles's feet sticking out of one end

"Jet." Wave began

"You should really learn to pay your parking tickets!" Jet tossed the ticket at Wave, who studied it

"I don't know what, you thought we. Jet, Knuckles was gay."

"You'd say anything!" Jet slapped Wave hard and she fell to the floor

"I don't know what happened. Would you just talk to me?" Wave pleaded as Jet grabbed her by the back of the head and dragged her outside and into the back of a limousine. Inside Miles stood in the foyer, an evil smirk on his face.

The black limo drove through a marketplace as Wave sat in the backseat crying, Jet sat opposite looking out the window, his face showed no emotion, "Jet, you have to listen to me, please Jet, please."

"Do you recognize the neighbourhood?" Jet asked, still showing no emotion, "Little Cuba. Just think, the first time I saw you was only three blocks from here."

"Look at me Jet."

"Of course then the neighbourhood was so much more, colourful."

"Look at me Jet please."

"Now it's just for whores, you'll fit right in."

The limo stopped on a bridge over a railway and Jet dragged Wave out, he grabbed her left hand and held her fourth finger with her wedding ring on it, "Look at that rock. Look at it, I gave you that when I had nothing, and all I asked for in return was loyalty."

"I have been loyal to you Jet. You're not making any sense." Wave said

Jet took out the diamond earring he found in Knuckles's bed, "Know what makes sense, here. Look at this, I found that in Knuckles's bed, does that make enough sense for you?"

Wave paused, "No."

"No?" Jet kissed Wave and picked her up, "Me neither." Jet threw Wave off the bridge and onto the railway and walked away, down on the track Wave looked up and screamed as she saw a train coming towards her. Jet got back in the limo and said calmly to the driver, "I'd like to go to the club, need a martini."


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Jet walked into the nightclub and up to the top floor where at least twenty men were gathered. Jet walked into the room and John, who was carrying a black suitcase, walked over to him, John put the case down on a table and opened it to reveal it was full of money, "Fifty thousand apiece." said Jet, "And fifty thousand more to the man who kills him. If you accept this money, you're in 'til it's over." Jet closed the case and walked into his office, John followed him

"Where've you been?" John asked, Jet didn't answer, "Where's Knuckles?"

"Oh, well, he's wrapped up in something." Jet said casually

"I called home, no one was there."

"Your mother's gone." Jet spoke as if it wasn't important

"What?"

"She took the train."

Outside the club Shadow snuck up to the top of a building, he was wearing a black tank top with a skull spray painted on it, he took out a longbow and fired an arrow through the chest of a guard, he then went around the parking lot attaching claymore mines to the undersides of the cars. Shadow then snuck into the nightclub and shot an arrow through the neck of another guard and tied a claymore mine to the door of the nightclub so anyone who opened the door would detonate the mine. Then Shadow headed towards the staircase, suddenly he heard a noise and carefully walked over and saw a dumbwaiter door open, next to the dumbwaiter was a speaker, Shadow heard a voice say, "Hey Eddie, more champagne on the double." Shadow glanced down at the man with the arrow in his neck, he paused for a moment before pressing a button on the intercom, "Coming right up." Shadow then put a bottle of champagne in a bucket of ice and hid a mine underneath it and sent it upstairs in the dumbwaiter.

Shadow then went and hid by the stairs as a man took the bucket out of the dumbwaiter and put it down on a table, meanwhile a man walked down the stairs, Shadow took out a knife and slashed the man's throat. Just then the other man lifted the bottle of champagne out of the bucket and the mine detonated. Shadow heard the explosion and took an assault rifle of his back and crept up the stairs. Meanwhile the club was destroyed and Jet lay almost unconscious on the floor.

As Shadow reached the top of the stairs a man was climbing to his feet, Shadow shot the man and he fell down dead, another man stood up and aimed a gun at Shadow but was shot before he could fire. A man hiding behind a couch shot at Shadow and hit his body armour, Shadow ducked behind a table and fired at the man, who hid behind the couch, Shadow then took out a handgun and shot the man in the leg before shooting again in the head. A fourth man stood near a wall and aimed at Shadow but was shot before he could fire, Shadow then heard the elevator and looked over to see Jet rush into the elevator and the door close.

Before Shadow could go after Jet he saw a man on the floor aim a gun at him and Shadow shot him in the head, then the man Shadow thought he had just killed shot Shadow in the side, Shadow fell behind a table and reappeared with a sawn-off shotgun in his hand and fired. Suddenly the grey fox with the slash on his face appeared beside Shadow and shot him at close range with a shotgun, as Shadow fell backwards the fox fired again. Shadow punched the fox in the face, grabbed the gun and aimed it down and shot the fox's foot off, Shadow then shoved the fox into a wall and twisted his arm around and stabbed a knife through the palm of his hand and into his side. As the fox cried out in pain Shadow took a second knife and stabbed it up through the under side of the fox's bottom jaw and into his mouth. The fox fell to the floor, dead, meanwhile Jet emerged from the elevator and limped towards the door, another man ran ahead of him, just then Jet looked up and noticed the mine above the door, "Stop!!" but the man had already opened the door, Jet dove out of the way as the mine detonated.

Back in the club Shadow was reloading a handgun when he heard something in Jet's office, he slowly walked over towards the office, a man lay barely conscious on the floor, Shadow shot him without looking as he entered the office and saw John lying on the desk, a bookcase was crushing his arm and he was trying to reach a gun with his free hand. Shadow casually walked over and pushed the gun away, "You look like a strong kid, you must work out. Ever try isometrics?" Shadow asked as he took a mine from his back, "This antipersonnel mine weights eight pound, not much." Shadow grabbed John's hand and stretched his arm out, "But try holding it with and outstretched arm." Shadow put the mine in John's hand and tied a wire from the mine to a tube hanging from the ceiling, "Hell of a workout." Shadow took off the tank top with the skull on it and hung it on the door handle of Jet's office as he walked away, "Wait, no, don't leave me like this. Don't leave me like this! Help, please!" John shouted after Shadow as he walked to the stairs.

Downstairs in the parking lot Jet limped away from the building, Shadow emerged from the flames covering the doorway, "Jet Hawk." Jet didn't turn round, "Jet Hawk!" Shadow shouted, Jet stopped and turned round to face Shadow, who stood several meters away, "You took everything from me." Jet and Shadow glared at each other

"You killed my son." Jet said angrily, then John's screams could be heard from the top floor of the nightclub as the mine detonated, "Both of them." Shadow said. The two tensed themselves as thunder rolled overhead, Jet went for his gun, Shadow pulled his own gun and fired, Jet spun round as the bullet hit, the green hawk fell to the ground as Shadow walked over to him. Shadow reached into his pocket and took out the photos of Knuckles and threw them down in front of Jet, "Made you kill your best friend." Shadow then took out the other diamond earring and threw that down, "Made you kill your wife."

Jet rolled over, "Oh god." he mumbled

"And now I've killed you." Shadow took hold of Jet's foot and dragged him across the parking lot. Shadow stopped next to a car and tied Jet's foot to the bumper, he then slapped a mine to the car and started the car, as the car drove into the parking lot Shadow walked away and pressed a remote detonator, one by one the cars in the lot exploded. As Shadow got into his car he pressed the detonator again and the car Jet was tied to exploded. From above the burning cars made out the shape of a skull.

Early the next morning Shadow made it back to his apartment, he dumped the bag he was carrying in a corner and sat in a chair next to a table with a bottle of Scotch on it. As Shadow drank he gazed down at a photo of Rouge and Spike, Shadow then put the photo down and removed a set of dog tags from around his neck, he then picked up a gun, loaded it and placed it under his jaw with the barrel pointing up. As Shadow was about to pull the trigger images flashed in front of his eyes, at first the images were blurry, but then they began to clear, Rouge stood waving goodbye to Shadow, tears in her eyes, "Rouge." Shadow whispered. Suddenly there was a roll of thunder and Shadow pulled the gun away from him, realising what he had to do. Later that morning Amy came out of her apartment as Shadow walked to the stairs, he stopped and turned to her, "You're right, good memories can save your life. When Sonic gets out of the hospital check the cupboard, I left something, for all of you."

"You're leaving." said Amy solemnly

"I have work to do." Amy nodded, "Read your newspaper everyday, you'll understand." Shadow turned to walk away, "Which section?" Amy asked, Shadow paused, "Obituaries." Shadow walked away as Amy stared after him. A few days later Big, Sonic and Amy pulled up to the apartment building in a taxi, Big helped Sonic, who's face was covered in bandages, out of the taxi and into the apartment. Inside the three friends entered Shadow's apartment, Amy walked over to the cupboard and opened it to reveal piles of money, Amy, Big and Sonic stared, there must have been thousands there. Meanwhile on a bridge Shadow, wearing the long black coat and T-shirt with a skull, watched the sunrise, "Those who do evil to others, the killers, the rapists, the psychos, the sadists, will come to know me well. Shadow Hedgehog is dead. Call me, The Punisher."

Fin


End file.
